NATION DATELINES

Compiled from Examiner wire reports

Published 4:00 am, Friday, June 13, 1997

AH: Lyme disease cases reach record high Atlanta Reported cases of Lyme disease, a potentially fatal illness caused by tick bites, climbed to 16,461 last year in 45 states - the highest count since the government started keeping track in 1982.

A thriving tick population, especially in the Northeast, is partly to blame. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that doctors are becoming more vigilant in diagnosing and reporting cases.

Lyme disease comes from bacteria carried by the deer tick in the East and the western black-legged tick in the West. Within a few days, the bacteria cause flu-like symptoms and often a rash near the bite.